[BELL, Vanessa (1879-1961)] - Manet and the Post-Impressionists. Nov. 8th to Jan 15th 1910-11, London, Grafton Gallery, [1910], 8vo, 38-page exhibition catalogue, wrappers. FIRST EDITION, IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY, SIGNED BY VANESSA BELL ON THE WRAPPER.

[BELL, Vanessa (1879-1961)] - [Exhibition Catalogue:] Manet and the Post-Impressionists. Nov. 8th to Jan. 15th 1910-11. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Under Revision). London: Ballantyne & Company Ltd [for Grafton Galleries], [1910]. 8vo (178 x 120mm). 38-page exhibition catalogue, advertisements (some very light mainly marginal spotting and staining, very lightly browned throughout). Original printed wrappers (detached, lacking backstrip, some fraying and short marginal tears not affecting letters, each wrapper lightly stained at one edge). FIRST EDITION, IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY, SIGNED BY VANESSA BELL ON THE UPPER WRAPPER. The exhibition held at the Grafton Galleries in London was a ground-breaking succès de scandale which first established the term 'Post-Impressionist'. It contained previously unseen works by Manet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Seurat and Van Gogh, among others, and shocked the British artistic establishment which remained largely Victorian in outlook, as revealed in the vitriol of contemporary reviews with their accusations of 'degeneracy'. On the gallery's "Honorary" and "Executive" committees were Clive Bell - Vanessa Bell's husband - Roger Fry, Lionel Cust, Lady Ottoline Morrell and, its Secretary, Desmond MacCarthy. In the catalogue's 7-page introductory essay, unattributed but probably by Roger Fry, the writer (commenting specifically on Matisse, although his words could apply more generally to the artists on display) states: "... this search for an abstract harmony of line, for rhythm, has been carried to lengths which often deprive the figure of all appearances of nature. The general effect ... is that of a return to primitive, even perhaps of a return to barbaric, art. This is inevitably disconcerting ..." Vanessa Bell (née Stephen), who has signed the upper wrapper of this catalogue in ink, was an English painter and interior designer, a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group and sister of Virginia Woolf. Provenance: Included in the lot is Sotheby's 'Charleston' catalogue for its sale held on 21st July 1980, containing 130 lots "... donated from various sources to be sold for the benefit of The Charleston Trust ..." and in which the present exhibition catalogue ("Vanessa Bell's copy") is included as lot 225 with the footnote "The celebrated exhibition which introduced Post-Impressionism into this country"; loosely-inserted is an accompanying autograph note from the buyer. RARE.